In recent years, in a variety of batteries such as an automotive battery, a solar cell and a battery for an electronic instrument, stacked batteries have been used. Each of the stacked batteries is configured in such a manner that a positive electrode, a negative electrode and separators are formed into a sheet shape, and that the positive electrode, the separator, the negative electrode and the separator are alternately stacked on one another in this order. Note that the positive electrode and the negative electrode are hereinafter referred to as electrodes in some case.
As devices for use in manufacturing the stacked battery as described above, a variety of devices has been proposed, and for example, devices described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 are mentioned.
The device described in Patent Literature 1 first sucks and holds a sheet-like separator material, which is supplied from a roll, onto an outer circumferential surface of a prism-like suction drum capable of sucking the separator material concerned. Then, while being conveyed by rotating the suction drum, the separator material is cut by a heat cutter provided on a corner portion of the outer circumferential surface of the suction drum.
Moreover, the device described in Patent Literature 2 first sucks separator bands, which are continuously supplied, onto a receiving stage and a pressing plate, which are arranged so as to be vertically opposite to each other, thereafter, cuts the separator bands, and brings a state where the separators thus cut are held by the receiving stage and the pressing plate. Then, a positive electrode is mounted on the separator sucked onto such a lower receiving stage. Next, such an upper pressing plate is allowed to go down, and the separator sucked onto the pressing plate is put onto the positive electrode, and in this state, edges of the separators, which overlap each other on a periphery of the positive electrode, are thermally adhered to each other. Thereafter, surplus edges of the separators are cut, and a packaged positive electrode, in which the positive electrode is sandwiched by the separators formed into a bag shape, is fabricated. Then, the packaged positive electrode is taken out from between the receiving stage and the pressing plate. The packaged positive electrode is stacked on the negative electrode alternately therewith, whereby a battery element, in which the positive electrode, the separator, the negative electrode and the separator are alternately stacked on one another in this order, is obtained.